


Finding Your Stardew

by 823KE



Series: Insert OC [3]
Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-16 00:06:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29322897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/823KE/pseuds/823KE
Summary: Sometimes, one needs a break to be able to set their sights on what they want to do, to think about their own identity, their purpose. With that said, she wasn't sure if a trip to Stardew Valley would really help - what's 'stardew' supposed to be anyways? And yet, somehow, a new person enters the community of Stardew Valley.
Series: Insert OC [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1772437
Kudos: 1





	1. Bus to the Valley of Stardew

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I played Stardew Valley a long time ago, and kinda fell out of it. Now, though, I've been back to playing it (on a new file) and... damn. I can't stop. So here's a third IOC for the series! If you know me, you'd know I'm already working on two other IOC stories. Is this wise? ...no, it probably isn't. Oh, well. Into Stardew Valley, we go!

The bus ride wasn't quiet as loud as she expected it to normally be, but nevertheless it was quiet an unsettling ride.

What bothered her more was the silence and somewhat heavy atmosphere within the vehicle, however.

Save for the slight music she could hear from the guy sitting in the back, playing with his music player and skateboard, the other passengers didn't really do much. That was respectable, of course; she wished the guy in the back would turn down the volume of his stupid device.

Letting out a sigh, she soon noticed that another girl had sighed at the same time at her.

To the left was a blonde girl looking out the window.

The girl stared at the blonde quietly, wondering if she was also headed for her destination - Stardew Valley.

...in fact, were all the passengers here headed for Stardew Valley?

What does 'stardew' even mean, anyways? Stars are stars, and dew is dew. Or were there a surplus of stars somewhere in this place, which is why it's like a lake of stars, alternatively, stardew? ...the girl closed her eyes, her head hurting a bit. None of her thinking made any sense to her at all...

None of this made any sense to her at all anyways. Why was she even here?

Oh, well. What's happened has happened, and it's not like she could do anything to change that.

As the bus came to a stop, she glanced out the window only to see nothing but trees and wilderness down below.

 _Not there yet, I guess._ The girl sighed again and slowly drifted to thoughts of how this came to be in the first place...

Until someone's loud, condescending voice took her attention.

"Yes, sir. Nothing impressive, really, the locals all look pretty poor. Commoners and the likes, I bet."

She raised an eyebrow and leaned slightly to her left to see some geeky-looking guy in glasses, holding a phone to his ear. His voice was already irritating enough, and now she had just been insulted out of nowhere along with everyone? Talk about snobby. The girl huffed but tilted back and closed her eyes.

Suddenly, the man in the back of the bus growled. "I'm just here to visit a friend! Piss off!"

As the women in front of the girl closed her son's ears, the condescending man sighed. "Interrupting phone calls, too. Pretty disappointing, sir," he spoke to the phone. "...yes, I'll do my best to ignore them and hopefully the bus'll get there soon."

"Lad, you're really no better than that young'un..." an old woman sitting in the front, a caged pet besides her, remarked. "Don't you know not to use them phones on the bus?"

"...I'm afraid I'll have to call you back later, sir. Yes, thank you." He put away his phone. "I apologize, ma'am. Would you like a can of our product, Joja Cola?" he asked and pulled out a bright blue can for the woman.

"No thank you. That unhealthy stuff's going to kill me of sugar before old age can."

"Hmph. The thought process of the uneducated never fails to amaze me," the man said, then turned to a different man sitting near the elderly woman. "What about you, sir? You seem like quite the smart person. Would you like-"

"Hands off, sonny," the other person growled before going back to his newspaper.

He huffed. "Don't be like that now. How about I give you this can for free? Here, I'll even put it in your bag for you-"

"Hands off my bag!" the newspaper man yelled more loudly this time.

Flinching a bit, the Joja employee mumbled something inaudible under his breath before turning to the mother and child sitting in front. "How about you, ma'am? Surely your son would like a-"

"Oh my god, can you, like, shut up and take a seat already!?" the blonde girl to her left yelled. "You're being loud and annoying!"

The man huffed, but proceeded to put his Joja Cola product away. "Rude as expected. Ungrateful locals won't bet getting an discount coupons from me, that's for sure..." he mumbled and sat in the seat in front of the mother and child pair.

She blinked, staring at the blonde girl with surprise. As grateful as she was, that outburst wasn't something she expected at all.

Then the blonde girl noticed her staring. "...what?" she growled, clearly annoyed.

"Oh, um. Sorry, it's nothing," she replied and looked away.

Feeling the blonde's gaze lift off of her, the girl could do nothing but sigh as she wondered how much longer it'll be until the bus reached her new, temporary residence.

 _Stardew Valley, huh?_ she thought. _I hope it's a nice place._

...

Around ten to fifteen minutes later, the bus came to a stop again. She had dozed off a bit at some point, but upon looking around, it seemed like most of the passengers had suddenly become revitalized and excited about something. Did the bus pass some amazing, beautiful view somehow?

The girl sighed to herself for the umpteenth time. Of course she'd miss that too. The entire trip, she hadn't felt too into this new story at all.

 _Do I really have to spend time here?_ she thought to herself.

"...hey." The girl jolted to her feet. Standing next to her, the blonde girl was looking at her with a deadpanned expression.

"W-what is it?" she asked.

The blonde blinked. "...everyone's already gotten off. Like... aren't you?"

"...oh. Um. I will." The blonde shrugged before moving to exit the bus. "T-thank you," she called after the blonde, who didn't respond nor react to her. She sighed again. "Well, that was embarrassing..." the girl mused before heading out as well. Giving her thanks to the bus driver, she watched as the vehicle closed its doors and drove off through the tunnel at the opposite side of the one they went through.

"Hey," a new voice called. "You're the last one to get off, and the others haven't reacted at all, so... I'm guessing this is you?"

The girl turned to see a new woman waiting for her, a card or sign in her hands, with a name written on it.

"S-sorry, I was lost in my thoughts," the girl replied. "I'm... not used to this whole... traveling thing, yet."

Laughing, the woman with orange hair waved her hand off. "That's alright, I don't really mind." She extended her hand to the girl. "I'm Robin, the local carpenter of Pelican Town. Nice to meet you."

"You already know my name, I guess, but... nice to meet you too."

The girl took her hand, managing to return a smile.

"I'm Sheena Hatsumi."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As with before, things to note:  
>    
>  1) There's a lot of personal dimension/universe/etc. theories incorporated into the shaping of these IOC stories, and fourth walls have an actual place in it. I'll try not to utilize too much fourth wall humor, but they will exist from time to time. Feel free to walk away from the story if you dislike that.  
>    
>  2) I initially planned on using Mikan Hatsumi for this IOC, but she's currently in my other IOC story, Terrarian. I could theoretically have another of her in this story at the same time, but it'd involve a lot of the aforementioned personal theories for dimensions and universes, etc, which I want to save for way later when we reach a good point. I also considered using another non-fandom-specific OC I had, Hachi Hatsumi, but she's now in my second IOC story, Galarian Colors, so... I'm putting a third, different non-fandom-specific OC who I've drawn, like, twice, but never really used. Once again, meet Sheena Hatsumi. I'll give more details on her next chapter.


	2. Into Pelican Town (part 1)

The orange haired woman, Robin, the town's local carpenter, smiled as she let go of her hand. "Our Mayor Lewis sent me here to welcome you, show you the way, bring you to your new home, that stuff. In fact, he's tidying up the farmhouse right now, for your arrival," she explained as she began to walk away.

Sheena blinked before realizing that was her cue to follow the woman, and did so, making sure to keep her ears opened for the introduction chitchat.

"How did you like your trip here?" Robin asked.

The blue haired girl racked through her mind, wondering what would be an appropriate response, before she decided anything probably worked. "Well, um. It was a really lovely view, I suppose."

"Wasn't it? Our Stardew Valley's just like that - tourists praise the environment all the time!" Robin said.

"I... see." Sheena's eyes darted towards the corner of her vision, unsure if she should confess that she had slept through the near end of the ride, probably missing everything. If the other passengers' excitement when she woke up were any indication of such, of course.

"Except for that damn Joja Corporation," Robin added under her breath. "Money-grubbing lunatics don't know anything about respecting the area around here..."

"Joja... oh." She briefly remembered the rather unpleasant man on the bus, who had been trying to push his 'Joja Cola' product onto basically everyone present. "The Joja Corporation... so they sell cola, huh."

Robin glanced back at her, blinking. "No, uh, well. They have their own brand of soda, yeah, but they're more a super... mega... corporation... thing. They've covered almost everything Pierre sells at his store - like they're purposely trying to ruin his family," she explained. "Oh, Pierre's the one behind our actual local store. Before the Joja Corporation came, of course..."

Then, as Sheena started seeing more trees, Robin stopped and raised an eyebrow.

"...wait, wouldn't you know more about Joja Corp. than we do?" the orange haired woman asked, turning to her. "I mean, you did come from the cities after all..."

"Oh, um. Sorry, I don't... I don't really pay attention to those matters," Sheena quickly lied. What would've made it worse was the fact that the player avatar actually worked for Joja Corporation before moving to Stardew Valley too, although it's unlikely any of the local residents would know that, unless Mayor Lewis had been informed and spread the word. _...seriously?_ Sheena thought. _I must be careful not to let that slip, then._

"Ah, okay then." The carpenter turned back ahead and nodded in understanding. "I get that. Honestly I'd probably not even notice the company as well, considering how little presence they probably have in the cities except for plastering their name everywhere. People probably get used to it like normal life, I assume."

 _I suppose they'd become too integrated to life to become something unique to people,_ Sheena agreed somewhat.

"Anyways, we're almost there. Look ahead," Robin said and pointed towards a lone house in the distant. "See that? That's the farmhouse you'll be occupying starting now!"

"Hm." The blue haired girl shifted her attention to basically every inch outside of her new to-be home. There were weed, trees, and stones, basically everywhere she could see. Even huge stumps and logs, too, now that she focused a bit more. "It sure is... amazing, out there."

"Haha, you think so?" Robin asked. "Seems like a lot of pain to work on, I say. Except all the wood though." She grinned. "Just imagine all the wood you can get chopping all those trees down, getting rid of the branches and stuff. Why, it's like they're meant to be turned into wood here! A carpenter's paradise, yeah?"

 _...deforestation dream, I guess, sure._ Sheena simply nodded in response.

As they neared the farmhouse, the door opened and out stepped a man who she felt looked somewhat old.

The man took notice of them and his eyebrows raised, moustache twitching.

"Robin! And, our new resident! Sheena, was it?" the man said. "Welcome! Welcome to Pelican Town, to your new farmhouse. I'm Lewis, the town's mayor!"

"It's... it's nice to meet you," the girl responded in kind, lowering her head.

"Polite, aren't we? That's good." Lewis cleared his throat. "You know, everyone's been dying to know more about you. Literally!"

"L... literally?" Sheena asked.

Robin rolled her eyes. "That's not how you use that word..." she told the man, who simply chuckled. "Don't take that seriously. Everyone's been really curious about the new farmer moving to our town," the orange haired woman explained. "Even I was a bit curious about you. It's not everyday someone new moves in, after all."

"The most we get are tourists and relatives of our townspeople," Lewis added. "And the worst we get... well..." His eyes darted away, as he mumbled something under his breath. Sheena could barely make out something about 'Joja' from his quiet addition, so she eventually understood that the corporation wasn't really well-liked by people around here, not just disliked by the carpenter.

"Oh."

"So, anyways. Your farmhouse." The mayor turned to the structure, nodding in pride and reminiscence. "It may look a little... old, worn-out, simple, perhaps. But it's your grandfather's old farmhouse, and he definitely took care of it well, so you'd best do the same, yeah?"

Sheena blinked, letting his words sink in until she remembered her role in the story. "R-right."

Within Stardew Valley, the player moves to the titular location at the suggestion of their recently deceased grandfather, who knew that the player would eventually burn out had they continued working for the Joja Corporation, rotting from boredom in their uneventful offices.

Of course, Sheena herself wasn't the player. The actual person, the farmer that was meant to come here, was their own separate entity. And so, they...

...the girl frowned. _Wait, but I'm the only one arriving here?_ she thought. She had just realized now, that for unknown reasons, there were no second person who is to live in the farmhouse with her. The girl had been briefed before coming to this world, that the spirit of the player avatar's grandfather was willing to compromise and allow her to join the Pelican Town community alongside their grandchild.

So... where were they?

"...a bit upset at the state of the house?" Robin's voice snapped her out of her thoughts, causing the blue haired girl to shake her head. The carpenter merely laughed, however, patting her on the back. "Hey, that won't be a problem. I offer house upgrades, so if you ever feel like improving the quality of the place around here, I'm your girl!"

"Don't be rude," Lewis remarked. "Upgraded or not, this farmhouse is perfect the way it is. Calling it anything else would be an insult to her grandfather, isn't that right, Sheena?"

Sheena feigned a smile, albeit it was obviously full of nervousness. "Ehm... I think I don't mind," she said.

"Speaking of which... Hatsumi, huh?" The mayor rubbed his chin curiously. "Is your family situation unfavorable? I didn't expect the ol' pal's grandchild to change her family name. Is it a family feud?"

The girl quickly shook her head. "Oh, no, um. I just... wanted to branch out, I... I guess." She panicked in her head, wondering how to fix the situation as to not erase the existence of the actual player avatar. "My... my sister, yes, my sister is the one who sticks more closely to, um, the family name, and... and our grandfather."

"Ah, I see. Glad that nothing too bad is going on," Lewis said. "Anyways, you must be tired. I've cleaned up the interior of the house, so it should be decent enough for a good night's rest. How about it?"

"Um. I... well, I guess I could," Sheena replied. _I slept in the bus though..._ "But... maybe later. I feel like... maybe, looking around?"

"Not a bad choice," Robin said. "Maybe you'll meet some new faces and can introduce yourself to them. Get to know each other, all that stuff."

Lewis walked over to a lone box to the side. "One more thing. When you want to sell something, anything, just stuff them all in here." He then rubbed his moustache, exhaling amusedly. "At night, I'll come by and collect all the crops you grow. ...and anything else you want to sell, I guess."

"If you want to sell wood and stones, though, come to my place!" Robin chimed.

"I... I will keep that in mind." Sheena lowered her head as they took their leave, waving their farewells to her.

After waiting a while, she glanced southwards, wondering how she should get started on cleaning up the area.

Then she looked down at her hands, her hands that did not carry any tools for chopping down trees nor destroying rocks.

"...maybe I should look around town."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Sheena Hatsumi**  
>  A girl with blue hair and ring-shaped ponytail, and blue eyes.  
>  New to existence, creation-wise, so she doesn't quite know her life goal or purpose yet.  
>  Not so keen on interacting with people, and will isolate herself until approached.  
>    
>  Now that I'm trying to write an insert story of Stardew Valley... hooh boy, my motivation's suddenly dropped. There's a scene I really want to get to writing, but I can't start at that, really. Gotta start from the beginnings. I'm also struggling a bit on how to do these introduction parts so... I guess I'll keep the 'story rule' here hidden for now, and I'll keep the meta before-start section (before coming to this world) part for some other time. Now, I just hope I do this story good...


End file.
